Independent insights on packaging materials, printing, sustainable packaging and design
Summary
Preparing artwork for custom packaging is easier when the production details are clear from the beginning. A correct dieline, enough bleed, properly prepared colours and well-organised print files can prevent delays and unnecessary revisions later.
This guide walks through the main things to check before sending your packaging artwork to production, from setting up the dieline to preparing special finishes and exporting the final file.
A packaging design can look finished on screen and still need some work before it is ready for production.
Once artwork moves into printing, every element has a physical position. A logo has to stay clear of seals and folds. A background colour needs enough bleed. Foil needs its own production layer. Small text still needs to remain readable after printing.
As Steve Jobs once said:
“Design is how it works.”
That idea applies surprisingly well to packaging. Good artwork needs to work with the structure of the package and with the way it will eventually be printed, formed, filled and used.
A little preparation at the artwork stage can make the rest of the process much smoother.
The dieline is the starting point for your packaging artwork.
It shows the flat layout of the package before it is formed into its final shape. Depending on the packaging format, it may include the front and back panels, side gussets, bottom gusset, sealing areas, zipper position, valve position and other structural information.
Always ask your packaging supplier for the production dieline before finalising the design.
Even two bags with the same fill weight can use different dimensions or structures. A 250 g flat bottom coffee bag, for example, will have a very different layout from a 250 g stand-up pouch.
Avoid rebuilding the dieline yourself from measurements unless your supplier specifically asks you to. Small differences in gusset depth, seal width or zipper position can affect where the artwork ends up on the finished bag.
At HoldenPak, we normally prepare the dieline based on the confirmed bag style, dimensions and production specifications so the artwork can be created around the actual structure that will be manufactured.
A packaging dieline usually contains several types of guides.
The exact colours and naming may vary between suppliers, so check the instructions included with the file.
You will commonly see:
Cut or trim lines
These indicate the outer boundary of the finished packaging.
Fold lines
These show where the material will fold when the package is formed.
Seal areas
These are the areas used to seal the package during bag making. Important text and logos should generally stay away from them.
Zipper lines
These show where a resealable zipper will sit.
Valve position
Coffee packaging may include a marked area showing the location of the degassing valve.
Safe areas
These help keep important content away from edges, folds and other structural areas.
Keep the original dieline on a separate layer and avoid moving, resizing or editing it while working on your design.
Any colour, photograph, illustration or pattern that reaches the edge of a printed area should continue beyond the trim line.
This extra area is called bleed.
Small variations can happen during printing, laminating, slitting and bag making. Extending the artwork beyond the finished edge gives production some tolerance and helps prevent thin unprinted edges from appearing.
Adobe describes bleed as artwork extending beyond the final boundary to allow for slight movement during trimming or production.
The required bleed depends on the packaging structure and production process, so follow the value shown on the dieline provided by your manufacturer.
A simple rule is:
If the design reaches an edge, keep it going into the bleed.
Bleed protects artwork around the outside of the design. The safe area protects important information on the inside.
Logos, product names, barcodes, certification marks, ingredients and small text should have enough space around folds, seals and edges.
This becomes especially important with flexible packaging because a flat artwork file will eventually become a three-dimensional bag.
Something that looks comfortably centred in Illustrator can appear much closer to a corner once the side gusset opens.
When reviewing the file, pay particular attention to:
Giving these elements a little extra space usually creates a cleaner finished package as well.
Packaging artwork is generally prepared using CMYK colours, spot colours or a combination of both, depending on the printing method and colour requirements.
RGB is primarily used for screens, so colours viewed on a laptop or phone may look different when converted for printing.
If a brand colour is important, identify it clearly in the artwork.
This may involve providing:
Packaging materials also affect how colour appears. The same ink can look slightly different on white film, kraft paper, metallised material or a transparent substrate.
For projects where colour consistency is especially important, discuss the colour standard with your supplier before production rather than relying only on what appears on screen.
Adobe also recommends working in CMYK for print artwork and using spot colours such as Pantone where appropriate.
Images used in packaging need enough resolution for their final printed size.
A photograph that looks sharp when viewed small on a laptop may become visibly soft once it is enlarged across the front of a bag.
As a general working guideline, raster images should usually be around 300 dpi at their final printed size.
Logos, icons and illustrations are better supplied as vector artwork whenever possible. Vector graphics can be scaled without losing sharpness, which makes them especially useful for packaging production.
Check every linked image before exporting the final file. Missing image links are a common reason artwork files have to be returned for revision.
If the production team does not have the font used in your design, text can display incorrectly when the file is opened on another computer.
Converting final text to outlines removes that dependency.
Once outlined, the letters become vector shapes and keep their intended appearance.
It is still useful to keep a separate editable version of the artwork with live text in case information needs to be changed later.
A simple workflow is:
Editable master file → final approval → duplicate file → outline fonts → production file
Adobe notes that some packaging production workflows convert text into outlines to reduce the chance of unexpected font-related changes during prepress.
Special finishes need more information than a visual mock-up.
If your packaging includes elements such as:
mark them clearly in separate layers or spot-colour channels.
For example, if a logo will receive holographic foil, the production file should clearly show the exact area where the foil will be applied.
Name these layers clearly:
FOIL
EMBOSS
WHITE INK
SPOT UV
This makes the file much easier for the prepress team to understand.
Avoid using only visual effects such as gradients, shadows or Photoshop mock-ups to indicate finishing areas. The production team needs a clean shape showing exactly where the process should be applied.
White ink deserves particular attention because it can change the final appearance of the design significantly.
On transparent packaging, white ink is often printed underneath colours to make them more opaque.
Without white underneath, some printed colours may appear translucent.
The same principle applies to metallic films. Printing colour directly over the metallic surface can create a metallic effect, while adding white underneath can make selected areas appear more solid.
If the design deliberately combines transparent, metallic and opaque areas, the white ink layer should clearly identify which effect is required in each area.
This is worth discussing with your packaging manufacturer early in the artwork process.
Packaging often contains a lot of information in a relatively small space.
Ingredients, legal information, certifications, recycling instructions, addresses and barcodes all have to fit around the visual design.
Before approval, zoom in and check:
Text size
Make sure small text will still be readable after printing.
Contrast
Light grey text on a similar background may look elegant on screen and become difficult to read in print.
Line weight
Very thin lines can lose definition.
Barcodes
Make sure the barcode has enough clear space around it and has not been stretched or distorted.
Variable information
Check weights, ingredients, contact details, certification numbers and country-specific information one final time.
Artwork approval is the best time to catch these details. Once production starts, even a small correction can require a new file or a new production setup.
A clean file helps everyone involved in production.
Use clear layer names and remove unused elements before submitting the final version.
A typical packaging artwork file might contain:
Artwork
Main printed graphics.
Text
Product information and copy.
Special Finish
Foil, embossing or other effects.
White Ink
White ink areas where required.
Dieline
Structural reference supplied by the manufacturer.
Avoid flattening everything into one image unless your printer specifically requests it. Keeping key production elements separated makes prepress checks much easier.
Adobe Illustrator or similar vector design software is commonly used to create packaging artwork.
When the artwork is approved, you will usually provide the original editable file together with a print-ready PDF.
Common formats include:
AI — Adobe Illustrator source file
PDF — print-ready artwork for checking and production
EPS — sometimes used for vector artwork
Make sure linked images are embedded or included, fonts have been handled correctly and the dieline remains clearly separated from the printable artwork.
Adobe similarly recommends preparing packaging artwork with embedded images, outlined fonts, CMYK colours and separate dieline layers before exporting the production file.
One of the most useful checks happens after the technical file is ready.
Stop looking at it purely as a flat Illustrator document.
Imagine the finished object.
Where will the front panel start and end?
What happens when the side gusset opens?
Will the logo sit too close to the zipper?
Can the product name still be seen clearly on the shelf?
Does any important information disappear into a fold?
A digital mock-up or physical sample can help answer these questions before full production.
For more complex projects, especially packaging with multiple finishes, unusual structures or strict colour requirements, a production sample can also give you a clearer picture of the final result.
Before sending your packaging artwork for production, check the following:
Packaging artwork usually becomes much easier once the structural and production requirements are clear.
If you are preparing a new project with Holden Pak, we can provide the corresponding dieline and review the artwork before production. This gives both the designer and the production team a shared reference before the file moves into printing, finishing and bag making.
We’ll reply within 24 hours to confirm the details and help with your quote.
